As you may have guessed, I've started publishing some short stories to Scribd. The Tales from the Ramayana are free stories, the others cost a nominal fee (I had to charge $1.25 in order to cover the cost that goes to Scribd for each purchase. Do you think that's too much? Not enough? Leave me some feedback so I can adjust as needed!). I have enough of these written to publish a new work each Thursday for the next four weeks. And since today is Thursday...

Below you'll find "Laksman Falls in Love" and it's free. Since this is going to be part of a series of stories, I actually gave it a cover. I hope you enjoy it!

(Removed. This story is now a part of the Tales from the Ramayana, a series of short stories from the ancient epic as retold by Diana)

Play safe,
Diana

You can vote now for the Bondage Awards. Please cast your vote for me for Best Writer!


You can vote once a day till the voting ends...so you know I'll be pestering! The person with the most votes wins. :)

Play safe,

Diana

The Diana Hunter Scribd store is now open with the launch of Love at Third Sight -- a personal tale of love and romance. I will be publishing several of these short stories over the next few months and am charging a nominal fee ($1.25) for them. Rest assured, the episodes of Tales from the Ramayana will remain free, however.


(removed. This story is now part of TIMELESS LOVE, a collection of short, romantic stories from Diana)

I've been laid up the past few days, recovering from arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday. While I'm getting around much better than I thought I would, I still spend HUGE amounts of time sitting still. And what better activity to do when sitting still but reading and writing books?

To that end, I've begun writing a Quick Quickie. I'm stuck with this enforced non-activity for a week and I'm thinking I can write one hot, short, sexy story in that time. Aiming for 8-10K in length...and 2K are already done.

I also read an entire book yesterday. Well, that's not fair. I started it the day before but only ready about 40 pages before the drugs knocked me out and I slept through the night. So yesterday I finished Laurie R. King's book, Locked Rooms. Mary Russell is the protagonist of the book, helped along by her husband, Sherlock Holmes. Yes, that Sherlock Holmes.

This book is obviously part of a series of Mary Russell novels and refers back to those other adventures several times, much the same way A.C. Doyle did with the Holmes mysteries. In fact, she employs several of Doyle's techniques in telling the story, sometimes to great effect. Although I found the start of the story somewhat long to get through, once the hunt was on the story sped right along.

That said, I doubt I'll read any of the others in her series. I really like Sherlock Holmes and all his oddities. Messing around with a beloved character just isn't my cup of tea. He's a perennial bachelor in my head and will remain that way. Ms. King's stories would work just as well without the Holmes connection.

Oh! I forgot to mention I read Dangerously Funny 'way back in January. Written by David Biancully of NPR fame, it's a great look at how the Smothers Brothers changed, and were changed by, television. WONDERFUL book! A must-read if you care about censorship...and if you think it's not still going on today, you definitely need to read this book!

That's all...be sure to check here for a free read from me in the post below. Just something fun :)

Play safe,
Diana

To all you travelers who are stuck in places you don't want to be, I offer a free story to take you away from your troubles for a while. Feel free to download and read at your leisure!

The Ramayana is an ancient tale from India and one I've enjoyed expounding on for many years. I never tire of telling the story to a group of students and watching their faces as they become enthralled with the adventure, the feats of derring-do and the romance of the hero and heroine. Two years ago I was asked to write a series of short stories for a Valentine's presentation in Second Life and naturally I turned to this beautiful epic for inspiration. The story attached tells my version of the very first meeting between Ram and Sita as told through Sita's eyes.


Tales From the Ramayana; Ram and Sita Meet by Diana Hunter

My mom is a long-time romance reader. She loves Debbie McComber and Nora Roberts, Sarah Brown and Jude Devereux among others and she’s always passing books onto me that I then pass to my mother-in-law who is also an avid romance reader. My mom reads about 15 books a month; my m-i-l reads an average of 25. They expect me to keep up.

I don’t, obviously. And while I enjoy the occasional romance novel, I like to vary the genre I read. I tend to be a news junkie, so I read a lot of non-fiction. I also enjoy fantasy (have I mentioned lately I’ve been a Tolkien geek long before it was fashionable?), science fiction, and historical novels that may or may not be romantic in nature (love Michael Sharra’s books!).

All that said, this year I’m keeping track of the books I read. The most recent additions to the list are two books by Judith Devereux: The Summerhouse and The Duchess.

I enjoyed The Summerhouse very much. The plot had a cool hook that fed into the fantasy lover I am and, of course, her characters are wonderfully drawn as always. The story follows a group of women who are given a chance at a “do over” in life. Watching them analyze their respective pasts and make decisions about their futures made for a good two-day’s reading. And it’s thought-provoking, too. Makes you think what parts of your own life you might like to have an opportunity to do over.

So The Summerhouse had qualities I look for in good books: characters I can believe, a good plot hook, and it stuck with me after I read it. I didn’t want to jump right into another book, I wanted to carry this one around in my head for a few days after I was done reading.

I can’t say the same about The Duchess. Oh, it was a good story, if a bit traditional in the historical nature genre. I found only one anachronism when the female protagonist walks into a room and “flips on a light.” In 1883. Both the action and the phrasing were too modern for the story and I had to flip back to the start of the book to make sure I had the right period.

Other than that, I really did enjoy the story…right up to the ending. Won’t give spoilers, but I felt cheated. It was almost as if she’d gotten tired of writing the book, so she wrapped up all the loose ends in an epilogue and closed the file. But some of those “loose ends” were actually subplots that deserved their own climaxes. Such a let down at the end of the book. I wanted to throw the darn thing across the room and yell at her for being a lazy writer.

So, two Jude Devereux stories, two Diana Gabaldon, one Debbie McComber and a Neil Gaiman. Three and half months into the year and I’ve read six books. Not a bad start to the year!

Shameless begging alert!

The Bondage Awards nominations are now open. Please use this link and nominate me for Best Writer; don't forget, my website is http://www.dianahunter.net/.

This is for nominations only so far, NOT voting. You only need to nominate me once. When the voting starts, THEN I'll be pestering you every day :)

Play safe!